Development and application of hydrological and limnological monitoring in lake-rich landscapes of Canada’s subarctic National Parks

Arctic and subarctic environments are being adversely influenced by human-caused climate change across our entire planet. Canada’s northern freshwater ecosystems are influenced by a variety of environmental stressors and are particularly sensitive to climate change, since small shifts in climate have the potential to substantially alter their hydrological, limnological, and biogeochemical conditions. Some other indirect effects on northern freshwater landscapes are the expansion of vegetation as well as changes in wildlife and waterfowl populations and distribution. It is, therefore, critical to understand the observed and predicted influences of climate change and other environmental stressors on these northern freshwater environments dominant in arctic and subarctic landscapes, since they are considered productive northern “oases” and provide important habitat for wildlife and natural resources for indigenous communities. Concerns have been increasing regarding climate change, rapidly changing lake levels, and the associated effects on aquatic ecological integrity within two of Canada’s northern lake-rich national parks, Vuntut National Park (VNP), Yukon Territory, and Wapusk National Park (WNP), Manitoba. To address these issues, Park-led monitoring programs have been established to track status and trends of lake hydrological conditions using water isotopes, yet there remains a need to translate these data into a format that can be used by Parks Canada for their reporting requirements. Here, a novel water isotope-based lake hydrological monitoring program is applied that directly encompasses Parks Canada’s long-term monitoring protocols and provides a sensitive way to detect hydrological change. Lake category (VNP - ‘snowmelt-dominated’, ‘rainfall-dominated’, or intermediate and WNP - coastal fen, interior peat plateau, or boreal spruce forest) and season-specific (spring, summer, fall) water isotope-based hydrological thresholds were used to establish the condition (‘good’, ‘fair’, ‘poor’) of Parks Canada’s hydrological ‘Ecological Integrity Measure’ for lakes within these two northern parks. Variability in the condition of VNP monitoring lakes exists between lake category (‘rainfall-dominated’, ‘snowmelt-dominated’, intermediate) as well as by season (spring, fall) from 2007 to 2015. However, rainfall-dominated lakes show the most variability in lake condition, spanning from lakes that fall entirely within the ‘good’ condition to lakes that are almost entirely in ‘fair’ to ‘poor’ conditions. In WNP, variability in lake condition exists between lake category (coastal fen, boreal spruce forest, interior peat plateau) and season (spring, summer, fall) from 2010 to 2013. However, during the spring and summer of 2014 and the entire ice-free season of 2015, these lakes improved to ‘fair’ or ‘good’ conditions, reflecting an increase in the precipitation/evaporation ratio. This research and monitoring-program development has bridged the gap between research science and Parks Canada monitoring by providing protocols and technical support to establish an effective long-term lake hydrological monitoring program for sensitive northern freshwater environments. During the past ~40 years, WNP has experienced a rapid increase in Lesser Snow Goose (LSG) population and a corresponding expansion in the LSG-disturbed geographic region. This has raised concerns about environmental effects of their activities on WNP’s aquatic ecosystems. Previous studies have found that using standard limnological measurements (e.g., specific conductivity) combined with carbon isotope variables (δ13CDIC, δ13CPHYTOPOM, Δ13CDIC-PHYTOPOM) is informative and effectively captures differences in limnological and carbon behaviour in LSG-disturbed ponds compared to unaffected ponds. This research compiles mid-summer limnological and carbon isotope data from 45 lakes during 2015 and 2016, which span a LSG disturbance gradient (undisturbed, actively-disturbed, severely-disturbed) across a portion of WNP. In 2015, higher mid-summer values of specific conductivity, pH, TP, TKN, DIC, DOC, and δ13CPHYTOPOM paired with lower mid-summer values of δ13CDIC and Δ13CDIC-PHYTOPOM values were characteristic of severely-disturbed ponds when compared to undisturbed and actively-disturbed ponds. Results from 2016 indicate a clear LSG disturbance gradient with increasing values of specific conductivity, pH, TP, TKN, DIC, DOC, and δ13CPHYTOPOM paired with decreasing values of δ13CDIC and Δ13CDIC-PHYTOPOM, as LSG disturbance increased from undisturbed to actively-disturbed to severely-disturbed ponds. Reduced sensitivity to LSG disturbance during 2015 can be attributed to substantial rainfall that occurred during the month of July prior to and during sampling. These limnological trends can be explained by an array of processes including chemically-enhanced CO2 invasion, elevated catchment runoff of nutrients, carbon and ions, as well as enhanced aquatic productivity, which increasingly influenced the nutrient and carbon balance of ponds along a LSG disturbance gradient. A numerical synthesis of the data identified established (by La Perouse Bay), active (the landscape to the north and northwest of Thompson Point), and emerging (the inland area in the southern portion of the study region) areas of LSG disturbance. Continued monitoring of LSG disturbance within WNP is critical to understand how freshwater environments in WNP will respond to historical, active, and new LSG disturbance. The analyses and interpretations presented in this research will serve as a useful tool for Parks Canada staff to monitor aquatic ecosystem trends and status as LSG population and migration patterns continue to evolve. Monitoring and anticipating lake hydrological and limnological change is challenging in the north due to its remoteness and the sensitivity of shallow lakes and ponds to multiple environmental stressors. Often, due to the lack of alignment and effective communication of research priorities between southern researchers and northern agencies, the short duration of funding, as well as the high turnover rates of staff and graduate students, the science and training necessary to create the foundations for agency-led monitoring is not always feasible. However, by means of substantial efforts to augment relations with Parks Canada staff, a long-term lake monitoring program within Wapusk National Park (the ‘Hydroecology Monitoring Program’) was successfully established in 2015. These efforts included instilling the significance of our research to Park’s staff and the local community of Churchill, providing the necessary training and knowledge transfer, as well as offering ongoing assistance and guidance. This monitoring program has been developed in a format that aligns with Parks Canada’s mandate, can be utilized for their reporting requirements, and is designed to focus on two major threats to aquatic ecosystems: 1) Pond Water Dynamics/Lake Hydrology monitoring and 2) Goose Aquatic Impact monitoring. Several key contributions transformed this research science into action and application. These include operationalizing agency-led monitoring (e.g., creation of training schematics and standard operating procedures), communicating monitoring results with science practitioners (e.g., scientific reports and open-access data), and communicating research with the general public (e.g., news articles, public presentations, and the Expedition Churchill interactive platform). In summary, research presented here is a contribution to the new research paradigm in northern Canada, where collaborative, interdisciplinary, and community-driven research reflects northern priorities and leads to action

Inadequacies in the American Diet

Good nutrition for people of all ages for health maintenance as well as restoration of health is an economic, political and humanitarian concern. Unfortunately, millions of people in North America experience some degree of malnutrition as a result of ignorance or poverty or both. This paper discusses inadequacies in the American diet, the causes of those inadequacies, influences on American diets, and ways the diet may be improved. The paper also provides the results of a dietary survey and a survey of economic groups

Honors Special Study

The major objectives which motivated the Honors Program student to select a project concerning elementary school children are as follows: 1. To develop an increasing interest in education; 2. To gain practical experience working with school children; 3. To use the Honors Program project as a guide for planning future educational plans. One hour weekly, often more, was spent in the first grade classroom of Cale School District, Cale, Arkansas. During this time, the regular teachers were observed, special assistance was given with the pupils, and an activity was presented. Activities were selected from the general areas of current events, art, music, and literature. Special bulletin boards were constructed for the children\u27s art work. Some of the activities were planned with small groups and at other times with the class as a whole

Development and application of hydrological and limnological monitoring in lake-rich landscapes of Canada’s subarctic National Parks

Arctic and subarctic environments are being adversely influenced by human-caused climate change across our entire planet. Canada’s northern freshwater ecosystems are influenced by a variety of environmental stressors and are particularly sensitive to climate change, since small shifts in climate have the potential to substantially alter their hydrological, limnological, and biogeochemical conditions. Some other indirect effects on northern freshwater landscapes are the expansion of vegetation as well as changes in wildlife and waterfowl populations and distribution. It is, therefore, critical to understand the observed and predicted influences of climate change and other environmental stressors on these northern freshwater environments dominant in arctic and subarctic landscapes, since they are considered productive northern “oases” and provide important habitat for wildlife and natural resources for indigenous communities. Concerns have been increasing regarding climate change, rapidly changing lake levels, and the associated effects on aquatic ecological integrity within two of Canada’s northern lake-rich national parks, Vuntut National Park (VNP), Yukon Territory, and Wapusk National Park (WNP), Manitoba. To address these issues, Park-led monitoring programs have been established to track status and trends of lake hydrological conditions using water isotopes, yet there remains a need to translate these data into a format that can be used by Parks Canada for their reporting requirements. Here, a novel water isotope-based lake hydrological monitoring program is applied that directly encompasses Parks Canada’s long-term monitoring protocols and provides a sensitive way to detect hydrological change. Lake category (VNP - ‘snowmelt-dominated’, ‘rainfall-dominated’, or intermediate and WNP - coastal fen, interior peat plateau, or boreal spruce forest) and season-specific (spring, summer, fall) water isotope-based hydrological thresholds were used to establish the condition (‘good’, ‘fair’, ‘poor’) of Parks Canada’s hydrological ‘Ecological Integrity Measure’ for lakes within these two northern parks. Variability in the condition of VNP monitoring lakes exists between lake category (‘rainfall-dominated’, ‘snowmelt-dominated’, intermediate) as well as by season (spring, fall) from 2007 to 2015. However, rainfall-dominated lakes show the most variability in lake condition, spanning from lakes that fall entirely within the ‘good’ condition to lakes that are almost entirely in ‘fair’ to ‘poor’ conditions. In WNP, variability in lake condition exists between lake category (coastal fen, boreal spruce forest, interior peat plateau) and season (spring, summer, fall) from 2010 to 2013. However, during the spring and summer of 2014 and the entire ice-free season of 2015, these lakes improved to ‘fair’ or ‘good’ conditions, reflecting an increase in the precipitation/evaporation ratio. This research and monitoring-program development has bridged the gap between research science and Parks Canada monitoring by providing protocols and technical support to establish an effective long-term lake hydrological monitoring program for sensitive northern freshwater environments. During the past ~40 years, WNP has experienced a rapid increase in Lesser Snow Goose (LSG) population and a corresponding expansion in the LSG-disturbed geographic region. This has raised concerns about environmental effects of their activities on WNP’s aquatic ecosystems. Previous studies have found that using standard limnological measurements (e.g., specific conductivity) combined with carbon isotope variables (δ13CDIC, δ13CPHYTOPOM, Δ13CDIC-PHYTOPOM) is informative and effectively captures differences in limnological and carbon behaviour in LSG-disturbed ponds compared to unaffected ponds. This research compiles mid-summer limnological and carbon isotope data from 45 lakes during 2015 and 2016, which span a LSG disturbance gradient (undisturbed, actively-disturbed, severely-disturbed) across a portion of WNP. In 2015, higher mid-summer values of specific conductivity, pH, TP, TKN, DIC, DOC, and δ13CPHYTOPOM paired with lower mid-summer values of δ13CDIC and Δ13CDIC-PHYTOPOM values were characteristic of severely-disturbed ponds when compared to undisturbed and actively-disturbed ponds. Results from 2016 indicate a clear LSG disturbance gradient with increasing values of specific conductivity, pH, TP, TKN, DIC, DOC, and δ13CPHYTOPOM paired with decreasing values of δ13CDIC and Δ13CDIC-PHYTOPOM, as LSG disturbance increased from undisturbed to actively-disturbed to severely-disturbed ponds. Reduced sensitivity to LSG disturbance during 2015 can be attributed to substantial rainfall that occurred during the month of July prior to and during sampling. These limnological trends can be explained by an array of processes including chemically-enhanced CO2 invasion, elevated catchment runoff of nutrients, carbon and ions, as well as enhanced aquatic productivity, which increasingly influenced the nutrient and carbon balance of ponds along a LSG disturbance gradient. A numerical synthesis of the data identified established (by La Perouse Bay), active (the landscape to the north and northwest of Thompson Point), and emerging (the inland area in the southern portion of the study region) areas of LSG disturbance. Continued monitoring of LSG disturbance within WNP is critical to understand how freshwater environments in WNP will respond to historical, active, and new LSG disturbance. The analyses and interpretations presented in this research will serve as a useful tool for Parks Canada staff to monitor aquatic ecosystem trends and status as LSG population and migration patterns continue to evolve. Monitoring and anticipating lake hydrological and limnological change is challenging in the north due to its remoteness and the sensitivity of shallow lakes and ponds to multiple environmental stressors. Often, due to the lack of alignment and effective communication of research priorities between southern researchers and northern agencies, the short duration of funding, as well as the high turnover rates of staff and graduate students, the science and training necessary to create the foundations for agency-led monitoring is not always feasible. However, by means of substantial efforts to augment relations with Parks Canada staff, a long-term lake monitoring program within Wapusk National Park (the ‘Hydroecology Monitoring Program’) was successfully established in 2015. These efforts included instilling the significance of our research to Park’s staff and the local community of Churchill, providing the necessary training and knowledge transfer, as well as offering ongoing assistance and guidance. This monitoring program has been developed in a format that aligns with Parks Canada’s mandate, can be utilized for their reporting requirements, and is designed to focus on two major threats to aquatic ecosystems: 1) Pond Water Dynamics/Lake Hydrology monitoring and 2) Goose Aquatic Impact monitoring. Several key contributions transformed this research science into action and application. These include operationalizing agency-led monitoring (e.g., creation of training schematics and standard operating procedures), communicating monitoring results with science practitioners (e.g., scientific reports and open-access data), and communicating research with the general public (e.g., news articles, public presentations, and the Expedition Churchill interactive platform). In summary, research presented here is a contribution to the new research paradigm in northern Canada, where collaborative, interdisciplinary, and community-driven research reflects northern priorities and leads to action

Nutrition for Children

Nutrition for Children was conducted among first and second graders of the Cale School District, Cale, Arkansas. Since the school is small, the relation between the teacher and pupil is on an individual basis. This situation produced a flexible environment especially suited for an Honors Project. Reasons and/or goals for the selection of this project included the following: 1. There is a positive relation between good eating habits and good health. 2. A juvenile understanding of the Basic IV Food Groups is necessary to motivate children to eat better. 3. The School Breakfast Program and the School Lunch Program were available as a basic starting point for improving food habits. 4. Special emphasis was needed on nutrition since many pupils were from low income families. 5. Reports from the teachers gave clues that most of the children were eating junk foods instead of their breakfast and lunch. 6. This project gave an opportunity for the Honors Program student to gain practical experience working with children\u27s nutrition. The project was planned as a combination of library research by the student and actual participation in the elementary classroom. Approximately one month was spent in preparation including researching the nutritional and educational needs of the school child. The basic ideas obtained are included in theme form as the body of the project. The actual classroom participation included 8 special activities carried out over a 2 1/2 month period. The Honors student was especially fortunate to have a flexible college schedule that made Friday available for a lengthy project. The classroom activities are each described in detail as a part of the summary. At times when activities were not being presented, the student often observed the eating habits of the children at the School Breakfast Program and the School Lunch Program. Several photographs have also been included showing the class during special activities

Experiments in Cultural Food Patterns and Customs

The circumstances under which one eats are largely determined by the culture. Food habits may have existed for centuries, and such a heritage may account for great conser- vatism in accepting change. These patterns reflect the social organization of the people. including their economy, religion, beliefs about the health properties of certain foods. and attitudes toward various members of the family. The emotional reactions to the consumption of certain foods may be so deeply rooted that effecting acceptance of them is almost impossible. Cultural food patterns exist particularly with- in oountrieso Perhaps nowhere in the world can one find so great a variety of foods and methods of preparation as in the United States. The dietary patterns are an amalgamation of the foods native to the region and the habits and customs handed down by generations of foreign born. Taking these facts into consideration, the author felt a need and a desire to undertake a study of cultural foods as an Honors Project. Some goals and purposes are as follow: (1.) To learn characteristic food patterns and habits of cultures by actual kitchen preparation. (2.) To become familiar with cultural foods as an optional course for American Dietetic Association membership. (3.) To collect magazine and newspaper articles pertaining to food habits and patterns. These will be preserved in a scrapbook for future reference. (4.) To become familiar with new foods and flavors. (5.) To gain skill in planning and evaluating meals. Each experiment follows the same basic pattern. The procedure was to research characteristics of each culture, plan and prepare the meal, and evaluate afterwards. Magazine and newspaper articles pertaining to food patterns were collected for the scrapbook. The key to score for evaluation remained the same for each experiment, and the same three persons scored each meal. Four factors: appearance, texture, flavor, and odor were used to judge each meal

Where do all the STEM graduates go? Higher education, the labour market and career trajectories in the United Kingdom

Problems with the supply of highly skilled science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers have been reported by employers and governments for many decades, in the UK, the USA, and elsewhere. This paper presents some key findings from a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation that examined patterns of education and employment among STEM graduates in the UK. Five large-scale secondary datasets—comprising administrative, survey, cross-sectional and longitudinal data—were analysed in order to provide the most comprehensive account possible. The findings suggest that there is no overall shortage of STEM graduates but there is considerable variation in the career outcomes and trajectories of different groups. Recruitment to STEM degrees has stalled over the past 20 years but most STEM graduates never work in highly skilled STEM jobs—in any case, the majority of professional STEM workers do not have (or presumably need) degrees. Some groups of STEM graduates are currently under-represented in the highly skilled STEM workforce and increased recruitment from these groups could grow the numbers entering STEM occupations. However, employers may have to modify their views on exactly what constitutes a valuable or desirable employee and to what extent it is their responsibility to train their workers

Using a Definition of Information Literacy to Engage Academics and Students: A UK Perspective

Following the publication of an updated definition of information literacy in 2018 by CILIP, the United Kingdom's library and information association, librarians at Royal Holloway, University of London, began to use the definition with both students and staff. Their aim was to foster a better understanding of information literacy and how it can benefit learners throughout their studies and beyond. The students were first-year English undergraduates, and the staff were working toward a postgraduate teaching certificate. Discussions during and after the sessions indicated that the updated definition was effective in introducing the concept of information literacy to both students and staff, highlighting its importance in academia and the wider world